Great Eastern Hotel

Riotously audacious and entertaining - a cinematic jazzlike humdinger of a novel.' - KAMILA SHAMSIEThe world is at war. And at the Great Eastern Calcutta's most luxurious hotel amidst the feasting dancing and laughter we witness the metropolis in the last moments before multiple disasters strike. The story begins in August 1941 on the day Rabindranath Tagore dies. The city has come to a standstill as thousands of people line the streets to pay their respects. Among them are: Nirupama a student of history and a volunteer with the Communist Party of India; Imogen a young Englishwoman whose father is an official with the Raj; Kedar the scion of a wealthy family who dreams of painting like Cezanne; and Gopal a young but experienced pickpocket who finds himself promoted into a dark dangerous world. Their lives intertwine with those at the hotel: an American soldier who plays jazz at the nightclub; a genius French chef; an heiress fleeing from the nightmare in Europe; and a group of military officers running a secret intelligence operation. Singularly ambitious and attentive Ruchir Joshi's Great Eastern Hotel maps this simmering pause at a crucial juncture in history and offers new contexts to the upheavals of our present raising vital questions about political commitment nationalism love and art